Golden Valley Residents Urged to Take Part in Lead Pipe Survey
The City of Golden Valley needs residents from its approximately 7,000 homes to report back whether their homes include lead water service lines or not. It’s part of a wide-ranging survey mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency, and every city is taking part.
Residents can scratch the outside of their main water service line to detect if its made of lead or not.
Longtime city resident Chad Hall said the process of taking the city’s online survey took less than five minutes.
“Drinking water and everything else is important, and to not have a lead pipe–the peace of mind,” he said. “You get peace of mind knowing you don’t have a lead pipe. There’s no chance of lead getting into your water.”
The process is fairly straightforward: you can use a coin to scrape the very bottom of your water service line, usually in your basement utility space. You may recognize the service line as the line with a meter on it. Scrape the pipe between that meter and the floor. You’re looking for a copper color–reddish-brown–and not gray, which may indicate lead.
“Any questions, you can call in and we can walk you through it,” said Water Distribution Specialist Derek Goddard, who himself answers dozens of calls some days. “If you need to, you can make an appointment and we can send a utility operator to help you out, check the (service line).”
Hall was able to upload a photo of the scraped pipe with ease right from his phone.
“With the age of my house, I wasn’t quite sure. This is just a quick way to make sure you don’t have a lead pipe going into your house,” he said.
